Siddharth Breja, a former JUUL senior vice president, accused JUUL of selling contaminated vape tank and said JUUL fired him in retaliation for his allegations, Reuters reported. On July 24, lawyers for both sides said an arbitrator had ruled against Breja and ordered him to pay some of the company’s legal costs.
Review of events:
In October 2019, Siddharth Breja, a former vice president of JUUL, sued JUUL for selling 1 million contaminated smoke bombs. Breja claims he was fired in March 2019 after he raised concerns with JUUL’s management about the company’s shipment of contaminated smoke bombs to customers and retailers.
According to the lawsuit provided by Breja, then-CEO Kevin Burns responded to those concerns, saying, “When half of our customers are drunk and vaping like mo-fo, who’s going to notice the quality of our bombs?”
Mr Burns denied making such comments. JUUL, meanwhile, said in a statement that “Mr. Breja’s claims are baseless. He was fired in March 2019 because he failed to demonstrate the leadership qualities required for his position. “Allegations of safety issues with JUUL products are equally unfounded, and we have investigated the underlying manufacturing issue and determined that the product meets all applicable specifications.” JUUL will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”
JUUL denied all the allegations and took the case to arbitration, which Breja did not object to, and the federal court lawsuit was put on hold pending arbitration in March 2020.
On July 24, 2023, in a joint filing in federal court in San Francisco, lawyers for Siddharth Breja and JUUL said an arbitrator had ruled against Breja and ordered him to pay some of the company’s legal fees. They did not provide any further details about the decision, but asked that the lawsuit be dismissed after Breja pays damages.
References:
[1] Ex-Juul executive loses case accusing company of selling contaminated pods
[2] Juul accused of selling 1 million tainted vaping pods to customers and retailers